Update: 2,217 pets adopted on Empty the Shelter Day in Dallas area

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Ben Torres/Special Contributor

Five-year-old Destiny Babcock of Hurst wasn’t letting her new chihuahua go on Saturday. Her family adopted Tinkerbell at the DFW Humane Society and Irving Animal Services. The Irving shelter has averaged 600 new animals a month since April.

“I missed having a pet. I’m a pet lover. It’s been long enough,” Pat Hawley said.

At 33 North Texas animal shelters, most adoption fees were waived for Empty the Shelter Day. By day’s end, a preliminary count showed more than 2,200 animals had been adopted.

Some shelters did charge city registration fees for residents, but those costs are far less than for typical adoptions. The DFW Humane Society, for example, normally charges $100 to $110 for dogs and $85 to $95 for cats.

The DFW Humane Society and Irving Animal Services, which share a building on Valley View Lane, have had annual free adoption events since 2012.

“Our goal is to bring awareness to animal shelters — that this is a great place to adopt a pet,” said Sarah Kammerer, shelter director for the DFW Humane Society.

“I sent an email to 10 cities, and they all said yes,” Price said. “It spread by word of mouth and grew from there.”

She said the adoption push can help shelters reduce overcrowding, which is higher in the summer. The Irving shelter has averaged more than 600 new animals a month since April.

By the time Irving Animal Services opened at 10 a.m. Saturday, people had lined up around the building for a chance to choose from the 200 dogs and cats ready for adoption.

In less than an hour, all of the available small dogs — about 40 — had been adopted.

Price said people camped out in tents Friday at Collin County Animal Services to get a chance to adopt pets.

In Mansfield, Animal Care and Control reported that by noon, only five dogs were still available.

“It’s crazy,” Price said. “All I did was send an email. It warms my heart that we had so many shelters that wanted to do this. This is about saving lives.”

Dennis Wooten, manager of Richardson Animal Services for 25 years, said this is the first free adoption fair the shelter has had for most of its animals. The shelter was still charging a $35 fee for puppies Saturday.

By noon, 13 of the 58 animals available in Richardson had been adopted.

“We wanted to join for the same reason everybody did: It’s summertime and we’re overflowing,” Wooten said. “Empty the shelter. Nothing would make us happier than to come in tomorrow and not have to clean.”

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